Hosting first-place Utah Valley on Sunday afternoon, the T-birds could not keep pace with the back-to-back WAC champions in a 3-0 defeat.
SUU was able to keep the Wolverines off the scoreboard for just over 20 minutes in the match, hunkering down defensively to try and keep the league’s best in check.
UVU cracked through the T-bird defense in the 23rd minute and followed with more goals in quick succession. The Wolverines added scores in the 25th and 27th minutes, taking a 3-0 lead. The match had been completely flipped on its head, with a scoreless game turning into a rout within five minutes.
Southern Utah regrouped after allowing multiple goals, keeping the score the same until halftime.
The T-birds played a solid second half, keeping UVU off the scoresheet while registering more shot attempts (4-3) and having the majority of possession.
The deficit was too much to overcome in the end, however, as the Thunderbirds were shut out and suffered a 3-0 loss.
“We played a very good team today. In the second half, we outshot and out-possessed them, which is great. I’m proud of the leadership of the group to handle the whole game,” SUU head coach Kai Edwards said.
“In the end, we played two of the top teams in the league and the West and shut them out for three of four halves. We get a couple back (from injury) Friday, and we go again,” he added.
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Up next
Southern Utah (2-7-4, 0-2-1 WAC) will wrap up its three-match homestand on Friday, October 11.
The T-birds will battle Grand Canyon – last season’s WAC Tournament champion – at 4 p.m. MT, and the match can be seen on ESPN+.
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